Recreational and sport bicycling has become a very popular pastime for all ages. Bicycling is a healthy, environmentally friendly and less costly alternative to driving a vehicle. A significant issue challenging bicycle use, however, is the bicycle's limited capability to carry anything beyond the rider. To address this issue, a number of under seat bags, handle bar bags, panniers (saddle bags), baskets, and small bags have been developed which mount to the bicycle. These items may be available either as part of the bicycle purchase or instead they may be purchased after market. This array of available bags is limited in carrying capacity, and often requires the use of tools and additional hardware to use. Also, after mounting, many of these bags cannot be easily removed from the bicycle.
One area of the bicycle which has not been adequately used for its storage capabilities is the available space between the top tube, the seat tube and the down tube of the bicycle frame. This area is at a low center of gravity on the bicycle, and items mounted here cause less problems with balancing and steering the bicycle. Although devices have been proposed to fill this area, the devices have not provided the flexibility to fit many sizes and styles of bicycles in combination with large storage capacity. The devices which fit many styles of bicycle frames have not efficiently used the total area provided. On the other hand, devices which provide a large amount of storage space have not been flexible enough in their design to fit different bicycle frame sizes.
Hard cases have been proposed which have a large amount of storage area, however, they cannot be easily adjusted to fit in different bicycle frame sizes. The use of hard cases also increases the chance that items inside the case may be damaged, since the items are loose and can slide around inside the case. These types of containers are usually expensive to fabricate because they require forming, welding or other expensive manufacturing operations. Additionally, a hard case design does not allow for changes in the shape of the device under the top tube. The inflexible design meant that the hard cases were more likely to interfere with the rider, even when the device was not being used.
Soft bags have also been proposed, however none has possessed a workable mounting system. Thus, the bags are limited in the sizes and types of frames into which they could fit. The bags are usually folded over the top tube and clipped, tied or fastened with hook and loop-type fasteners to the frame. Due to this mounting style, the bags have not maximized the use of the area under the top tube. Instead, large bags have been designed to fit a specific style of bike, filling a large amount of the space provided. Alternatively, bags have been made small to fit a large variety of bike styles. The use of prior carrying bags (as well as cases) has also limited the ability of the rider to use water bottles and air pumps mounted to the frame because of interference from the bag (or case).